How to Grow Your Own Sprouts

Growing your own bean sprouts is extremely cost effective and bean sprouts are a great part of a healthy diet. Select seeds sold for the express purpose of sprouting or buy items sold as food. Do not use seeds produced to grow new plants in a garden since most have been treated with insecticides and this could be harmful to eat as sprouts.

Getting seeds to sprout works about the same for any type you are trying. You will need a few items to get the process underway; a wide mouth quart jar, cheesecloth or a nylon stocking, and a jar ring. Go through your seeds and remove any chaff or broken seeds. Soak the seeds for about 8 hours in the jar. Cover the opening of the jar with the cheesecloth or nylon and keep it in place with the jar ring. Empty the soaking water and refill the jar with a bit of warm water. Keep the jar in a bowl with the jar on its side and put it in a dark cupboard. Rinse and drain the seeds 2-6 times per day. Most seeds sprout best in temperatures between 70 and 85 degrees if it is much warmer, you will need to rinse and drain the seeds more often.

After the seeds have sprouted and the sprouts are between one and two inches long, you will want to "harvest" the sprouts. For most sprouts it will take between three to five days to be ready to harvest. Rinse the sprouts by putting them in a strainer and rinsing them with a light spray of water. Drain the sprouts thoroughly. Go through the seeds and remove any that did not sprout. Refrigerate sprouts immediately after harvesting. Wrap them loosely in a damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag for storing. Sprouts should last 7-10 days, if they begin to wilt, rinse them in cool water and wrap in a new paper towel before placing them back in the bag.

Some seeds that make great sprouts are; white beans, lima beans, pinto beans, red beans, corn, garden cress, lentils, radish, mung beans, soybeans, wheat, barley, garbanzo beans and alfalfa. Sprouts are great additions in salads, add a crunch in sandwiches and are a vital part of many oriental stir-fry recipes. If you are looking for ways to improve your health and the amount of nutrients you get in your diet, add sprouts to baked items such as breads. Substitute a cup of sprouts for a half cup flour and half cup wet item. Chop up the sprouts and put them in as the last ingredient.